China’s Jiutian Drone Mothership Flies, Signaling New Swarm Era

Aviation Industry Corporation of China announced that the Jiutian, a large unmanned "mothership" designed to carry and launch swarms of smaller drones, completed its first flight on December 11, 2025, according to state media and open source trackers. Xinhua reported the flight occurred in Shaanxi province, and multiple defense outlets and trackers located the event at Pucheng County in northwestern central Shaanxi. The platform was first displayed publicly at the 2024 Zhuhai Airshow and has since drawn attention for its modular internal bay and suggested swarm role.

AVIC is identified as the developer, with some reporting that Xi’an Chida Aircraft Parts Manufacturing Company contributed to development. The system has been labeled Jiutian, literally The Ninth Heaven, and has appeared in some accounts under the shorthand SS UAV, an acronym whose precise meaning has not been specified in available reporting. Public descriptions emphasize a large, general purpose unmanned aircraft configured to carry sub systems for a variety of missions.

Reported specifications vary across outlets. Several sources described maximum takeoff weight in the mid teens of metric tons, with some accounts specifying roughly 16 tons and another noting about 17.6 tons. At least one defense outlet suggested the MTOW exceeds 20 tons. Payload estimates converge more closely, with repeated reporting of roughly 6,000 kilograms of payload capacity. A public video report also stated an endurance on the order of 12 hours, though no AVIC technical specification sheet for the aircraft has been publicly released to corroborate these figures.

Contemporary coverage highlights the mothership function, with reports that Jiutian can carry an internal complement of smaller unmanned aerial systems and may be capable of releasing as many as 100 loitering munitions or small drones from its belly bay, including lateral release from both sides of the fuselage. Independent analysis cited in some outlets has suggested the airframe could carry external stores on eight hardpoints for varied munitions and sensors, though that detail was not provided directly by AVIC. Reporting also lists a range of noncombat roles as plausible, including logistics, airborne communications relay, disaster response, mapping and mineral survey tasks, depending on payload fit.

Strategically, Chinese state outlets framed the flight as a technical breakthrough, while defense analysts internationally have characterized Jiutian as a step toward expanded People’s Liberation Army swarm capability. Military planners in the Indo Pacific will likely study the implications for layered air defenses and naval task force protection, given the prospect of massed loitering munitions combined with airborne sensor and relay nodes.

Key questions remain unanswered. Detailed weapons integration, command and control architectures for coordinated swarm employment, certification timelines and operational concepts have not been disclosed. The varied technical figures across open sources underscore the need for caution before firm conclusions are drawn.

The public debut of Jiutian is a clear demonstration of Chinese investment in large uncrewed platforms capable of both military and civilian roles. Its emergence will test regional diplomatic mechanisms and legal frameworks for responsible deployment of autonomous and remotely piloted systems, while prompting calls for greater transparency to reduce risks of miscalculation in a crowded and contested airspace.